And Modell announced the Browns move early in order to sabotage the Cleveland City Council vote on renovating Municipal Stadium, because he had already secretly negotiated a deal with Baltimore. He certainly didn’t do it to “soften the blow” or to give Cleveland or the fans fair warning.
This meme that Irsay’s move was somehow more underhanded than Modell’s is getting tiresome. Irsay gave Baltimore and Maryland far more of an opportunity to work with him than Modell gave Cleveland.
Give me a break! I really don’t much care why any of them did anything.
Bottom line is Irsay (hated by players and fans, incidentally; a scum drunk) did what NO OTHER owner has EVER done in major-league sports - literally run off without any announcement.
Cleveland fans got a warning well ahead as well as everything else they wanted in a short time - a team in a few years, their records and name (not that anyone would really want a name like “Browns”), and they don’t even have to see “Modell” pasted all over game programs or see his or any relatives’ face at a game.